News, Television, Women Writers

Starz Developing Series Based on Stephanie Danler’s “Sweetbitter”

Stephanie Danler: Nick Vorderman/Danler’s official site

“Sweetbitter” may be coming to the small screen. A half-hour drama series based on Stephanie Danler’s critically acclaimed 2016 coming-of-age novel is being developed by Starz. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the project sparked a multiple-network bidding war.

Named one of NPR’s best books of 2016, Danler’s best-selling debut novel centers on Tess, a 22-year-old who moves to New York City and scores a job working at a buzzy downtown restaurant. She’s soon introduced to “the world of drugs, alcohol, love, lust, dive bars, and fine dining,” THR writes.

Danler penned the script. Stu Zicherman (“The Americans”) has signed on to develop it with her, and both are among the project’s executive producers. Plan B is attached to produce.

“I wanted Tess to reflect the New York experience for a lot of people — you arrive and you’re straight into this bubble, and all that matters is the bubble,” Danler has said. “Your past falls away. It doesn’t matter. You’ve started again.” She explained, “Tess was never me, not really. I hostessed at restaurants when I was 15 years old and managed restaurants in my late 20s. I had seen these girls come into restaurants over and over again, new to the place, wanting temporary work, not planning to stay for long, then ending up staying for years, and Tess was very much this idea of the new girl that I’d seen walking in the door so often.”

It was recently announced that Starz is also developing an untitled fictional drama based on Mariah Carey’s life.


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